Treasure Hunt KL-Melaka

My niece is in KL now for her school break (she's studying in Jakarta - International Baccalaureate programme http://www.ibo.org/).

As part of the programme she is required to accumulate points for extra co-curricular activities - any programme that can develop her strength, enhance her knowledge, develop new skills etc.

Few years back she & I and my sis participated in Treasure Hunt event organized by The Sun (2005). That time we didn't win anything as we were new and clueless on how to read cryptic clues and solve the puzzles (we did however managed to secure top 10 placing in monorail hunt 2003 - beginner's luck).

Now, that she's back here she suggested that we tried again (after many years), I forwarded to her some treasure hunt sites and we finally chose an event organized by YKN (Yayasan Kebajikan Negara) - the prize seems good (even though we don't think we'll win anything) and we can participate in charity event.

So, Friday night (17/7/09), I went to sleep at my sis's house in Jalan U-Thant since we need to be at the flag off point early (flag off at 7.30am). That night, I couldn't sleep - 1) lots of mozzies (in the end my niece & I stayed up and managed to kill 7-8 mozzies) then we finally managed to sleep, but after an hour or 2 hours of sleep a loud noise can be heard from outside due to on-going road work...urgh...

I only managed to catch few winks then time to get up (5.30am) - after subuh prayer, we went to Pandan Indah to tapau McD's breakfast (breakfast cum lunch - my sis tapau 2 burger for each of us). We reached Pusat Sains Negara (flag off point) quite late, 10 minutes before flag off. After short briefing, photo session, off we go with tulips and questionaires in hand.

First stop at South City Seri Kembangan. 2 portions here and we only managed to solve correctly answers in 2nd portion. Then we continued with our hunting.

We managed to submit our first part of the questionaires at check point 1 (Medan Selera Sri Kendong in Rembau); after collecting 2nd part of the questionaires we started hunting and submitted the questionaire at last check point (Rumah Seri Kenangan Cheng, Melaka).

We can only check-in into D'Village Resort at 3pm so we spotted Aunty & Uncle Kopitiam after we left Rumah Cheng, decided to stop for lunch. The shop is new and the owner (I think he's the owner) very friendly and attentive. My niece had mihun sup and I had their chicken curry set lunch and we tapau fried rice for my sis (she had bad headache and slept in a car). Taste? Typical kopitiam food..

• Bee hoon soup RM4.50
• Chicken curry set (includes rice and lime juice) RM5.50
• Kampung fried rice RM4.50
• Hot coffee RM1.40
• Fresh orange juice RM3.50
• Carrot orange juice RM3.90
• Lemon orange juice RM3.90

After lunch we proceeded to D'Village Resort. Check-in was a breeze as the organizer was very efficient n organized :-)

As we enrolled in family category, we were given family chalet - 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms basically 2 individual chalets linked together with adjoining door. Reasonably clean with basic facilities - I don't mind going there again.


After resting a while we decided to explore nearby attractions - first stop - butterfly park (farm?) - the place looked abandoned..perhaps they closed for renovation? Next stop - Mini Malaysia / Asean Village - they closed at 6pm and we reached there slightly after 6pm...sigh..so we just walked around the compound and returned to hotel..we spotted a playing ground opposite the hotel (Dataran something) and decided to stop by so that my nephew can play there. While waiting for him, an ice cream man (with motorbike) came and we enjoyed his ice cream (homemade?) reminded me of my childhood days in my kampung...

Image from http://www.freewebs.com/cho-ko/picspeninsularmalaysia.htm

That night we had dinner (included in our Treasure Hunt package) and after dinner, main event of the night - the organizer revealed the answers and prize giving ceremony. We secured 3rd place in family category and 16th place in open category...not bad huh...considering this was our 4th hunt and our last hunt was like 4 years ago....

(hmm..trying to recall our 1st hunt...my eldest sis asked us to join her in a hunt organized by FRIM some time in 1993? something about eco/green or earth thingy...we were totally clueless..and gave up after few questions.......we didn't even know how to read tulip!)

Dinner was good. Lots of food and only 5 adults and 3 kids sharing the food (well..2 kids since my nephew doesn't eat rice or any dishes).

• Stir fried sawi
• tofu
• tom yum
• sweet sour fish
• fried chicken
• masak lemak udang
• asam pedas ikan (Malacca specialty)
• ulam & sambal belacan

Next day's breakfast was nasi lemak, fried noodles and bread...nasi lemak was actually quite tasty...

We checked out at 12noon and decided to drive around Jonker Street and stopped by to try Eye of Malacca.....after that we went to Portuguese Settlement for our lunch.

The stalls -

• Seafood Terrace
• Joan n El' Chico's - we had our lunch here
• Seafront
• Joe Splash Five
• Big Benz Fountain
• Jenny Kopitiam
• J&J Corner
• De Costas

Food? Delicious! We had clams (lala), grilled portuguese fish, brinjall (portuguese style) and butter prawns. Total? RM80++?

What others said about Portuguese Settlement:

• http://www.usj.com.my/bulletin/upload/showthread.php?t=24358
  
• http://j2kfm.blogspot.com/2009/01/seafood-portuguese-settlement-melaka.html
• http://www.iwannaseetheworld.com/?p=7
  
• http://www.foodpoi.com/2008/10/portuguese-settlement-sea-terrace-seafood/
  
• http://jasonmumbles.com/2008/12/sea-terrance-portuguese-settlement
• http://jasonmumbles.com/2009/01/revisitng-sea-terrace-portuguese-settlement
• http://absolutginger.com/tag/portuguese-settlement/
• http://www.melaka.org.my/eatingout/portuguese.html
  
• http://food.malaysiamostwanted.com/venues/only-one-mango-juice-portuguese-settlement

My Elephant Jalan 17/13, Seksyen 17 PJ

My group of friends (ex-colleagues turned friends) TH, NMM, VK & HA meet up regularly. We tried to make it once a month but of course sometimes because of other commitments we only manage to see each other once in 2 or 3 months. When we meet up we'd like to try new places, after all, these ladies don't eat much so when we meet up it is sort of a time to splurge and abandon dieting regime...-)

So, last friday we made plan to meet up after previous cancellation (last 3 weeks due to VK being away, we missed he in our previous outing). Thursday morning, HA sent an email telling everyone that hubby had planned for them to balik kampung on Friday night n she has to miss our date.

So, we proceeded without her. TH recommended My Elephant - she said it is pork-free, not sure meat is halal or not but we can order seafood. She had been there 4 times n enjoy the food there very much. We agreed and proceeded to the restaurant after work.

I didn't expect the restaurant to be located inside low cost flat! But the owner/s had done quite extensive renovation and turned the restaurant into a quite cosy place. According to TH, lots of diners patronizing this place especially during Fri-Sun and they are actually willing to que!

Lucky for us, TH managed to book a table and while we were at the end of our meal, we noticed quite a number of people were waiting outside for tables! Feeling uncomfortable, we didn't linger and finished our dinner and proceeded to Coffee Bean at Jaya1 to continue with our chit chatting

Our dinner:
Fish cake (starter) 5pcs RM8.00 (very nice, I wanted to order My Elephant starter plate but TH said it is too big portion. We also ordered Mieng kum - but they didn't have it, it was on the menu, perhaps it was sold out)


Image from http://spinzer.us/2009/04/my-elephant-happy-mansion/

Drinks - TH ordered Pandan cooler (RM3) while the rest ordered Kraciap cooler i.e roselle flavoured drinks RM3/glass - similar but nicer than ribena..

Tom yum - TH preferred tom yum with santan while NMM and I preferred tom yum minus santan so we ordered 2 types of tom yum. Tom yum seafood is nice and VERY spicy. Myele tom yum talay - VERY sweet. I don't like it at all. Tom yum seafood (s) RM20.00 and tom yum talay (s) RM23.00. Quite huge portion for a small bowl, 3 or 4 persons can share a bowl.

NMM likes kerabu and she ordered papaya salad RM10.00 and mango salad RM10.00. I like pucuk paku and we ordered it too RM12.00. Of all these 3 vegetable dishes, pucuk paku seems to be everyone's favourite.

Image from http://spinzer.us/2009/04/my-elephant-happy-mansion/

TH ordered mayonaise prawn RM18.00 - fried prawn + dragon fruit + mayonaise, she loves it but if I were to go to this place again I'll not order this dish again - too sweet and rich for my taste.


Image from http://blog.benghan.com/2008/07/my-elephant-thai-food-menu-ss17/

We noticed all our dishes quite dry - without gravy to 'wet' our brown rice (RM10 for 4pax), we decided to order fish green curry RM15.00. I like this curry as it was freshly prepared and served piping hot and not too rich nor sweet as serve at most thai restaurants. This dish? RM15.00.


Image from http://blog.benghan.com/2008/07/my-elephant-thai-food-menu-ss17/

I like omelette to go with my rice and ordered omelette with otak-otak (Khai Jiao Homok) RM12.00. TH objected as she said we ordered quite a lot already, anyway we proceeded with the order.


Image from http://blog.benghan.com/2008/07/my-elephant-thai-food-menu-ss17/

Total? RM165.00 and we paid RM41 each (NMM sponsored RM1.00 ha ha).

Will I go to this place again? YES but will try other food and order what I like ha ha..

Where?

My Elephant Thai Restaurant & Café,
Block C - G4 Happy Mansion, Jalan 17/13,
Section 17, Petaling Jaya.
Tel: 012-328 5028, 019-360 8911
Business hours: Tuesday to Sundays - noon to 2.30pm,
6 to 10pm except Sunday lunch.

What others said about this place:

1. http://food.malaysiamostwanted.com/venues/my-elephant-thai-happy-mansion-section17-pj
   
2. http://www.myelephant.com.my/
   
3. http://www.awhiffoflemongrass.com/?p=173 - there's a map here too.
4. http://lotsofcravings.blogspot.com/2008/03/my-elephant-section-17-petaling-jaya.html
5. http://friedchillies.com/fc/more.php?id=2398_0_1_0
6. http://kampungboycitygal.com/2007/12/floggers-award-night-my-elephant-seksyen-17/
   
7. http://godblesz.blogspot.com/2008/02/my-elephant-ss17petaling-jaya.html
8. http://www.foodpoi.com/2008/10/my-elephant-by-doodee-revisit/
9. http://shooweb.net/blog/tag/my-elephant-thai-restaurant-review/
10. http://malaysianfoodguide.com/2008/11/29/my-elephant-sec-17-pj/
11. http://www.placesandfoods.com/2009/01/thai-food-my-elephant-pj.html
12. http://bangsar-babe.blogspot.com/2009/07/my-elephant-section-17-petaling-jaya.html